The Hollywood Reporter is somewhat schizophrenic about the success of the summer's movies; in a piece called "Summer exceeds boxoffice expectations," they point out that despite three movies grossing over $300million domestically (The Dark Knight, Iron Man and, somewhat surprisingly, Indiana Jones And the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull), fewer movies crossed the $200million mark this year when compared with 2007.

Internationally, the picture is slightly rosier, according to Variety, with Universal having their most successful year ever outside of the US, despite being third in terms of studio grosses (behind Warners, who were helped by The Dark Knight being the first massive blockbuster Batman movie in foreign markets, and Paramount, whose Indiana Jones is currently the top movie of the summer internationally). Interestingly, Variety mentions that part of this success is down to the non-genre fare (Sex And The City, Mamma Mia! and, stunningly, What Happens In Vegas) performing much more strongly than initially suggested (Hellboy II and Speed Racer both flopped internationally, showing that non-American audiences would rather watch Carrie Bradshaw try on wedding dresses than Guillermo Del Toro's imagination at work, which is depressing on multiple levels). Perhaps everyone else needs to get with America's superhero fetish; four out of the top ten movies this summer in the US featured men in tights. The reason? Perhaps the shitty American economy, believes Warner's Dan Fellman:

There’s no question that the poor economy historically has given the motion picture a boost... Also, the [release schedule] was spread out and wasn’t grouped together as it was in ’07, when it was all in May. We opened ‘The Dark Knight’ after the May crunch and had the marketplace pretty much to ourselves for a big tentpole film.

We're guessing that next year's going to be a much different affair; studios will have learned the lesson of spacing releases out, but the WGA strike - and still possible actors strike - may have made that lesson moot; the next Harry Potter movie has already been pushed back to next year because Warners have no other big movies ready for the summer, and it's unlikely that they'll be the only ones with that problem. This time next year, expect to see reports of a slower year... And maybe one where audiences got the time to revisit their favorite movies a lot more.

One of the first things that Bordwell wants to establish is that, no, Iron Man and The Dark Knight weren't actually as good as you may have thought they were. Instead, he suggests that society's tastes are changing for multiple reasons, including (but not limited to) the increasing importance of special effects in movies, the shift away from auteur cinema towards franchises, a move from Westerns to Superheroes, and... well, actors who love to over-act:

Today your serious actors shape-shift for every project—acquiring accents, burying their faces in makeup, gaining or losing weight. We might be inclined to blame the Method, but classical actors went through the same discipline. Olivier, with his false noses and endless vocal range, might be the impersonators’ patron saint. His followers include Streep, Our Lady of Accents, and the self-flagellating young De Niro. Ironically, although today’s performance-as-impersonation aims at greater naturalness, it projects a flamboyance that advertises its mechanics. It can even look hammy. Thus, as so often, does realism breed artifice.
Horror and comic-book movies offer ripe opportunities for this sort of masquerade. In a straight drama, confined by realism, you usually can’t go over the top, but given the role of Hannibal Lector, there is no top. The awesome villain is a playground for the virtuoso, or the virtuoso in training. You can overplay, underplay, or over-underplay... Such is the range we find in The Dark Knight... The Joker’s darting eyes, waggling brows, chortles, and restless licking of his lips send every bit of dialogue Special Delivery. Ledger’s performance has been much praised, but what would count as a bad line reading here? The part seems designed for scenery-chewing. By contrast, poor Bale has little to work with. As Bruce Wayne, he must be stiff as a plank, kissing Rachel while keeping one hand suavely tucked in his pocket, GQ style. In his Bat-cowl, he’s missing as much acreage of his face as Dent is, so all Bale has is the voice, over-underplayed as a hoarse bark.

In sum, our principals are sweating through their scenes. You get no strokes for making it look easy, but if you work really hard you might get an Oscar.

In the end, Bordwell doesn't come to any real conclusion, but claims to have found hope that interesting cinema can still exist within the superhero sphere in the form of Hellboy II. Just don't tell him that, thanks to BPRD, Lobster Johnson and Abe Sapien, Hellboy is just as much a franchise these days as Batman.

Superheroes for sale [David Bordwell.net] (Via.)

The monsters in this Hellboy totally trump the original. More Hellboy clips over at IGN. The creature feature is out July 11.

[IGN]

Written by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola from a story by Mignola and Golden Army director Guillermo Del Toro, the animated six-minute short comes in advance of the movie's July 11th release date. And if you're wondering where the young Hellboy came from, you can always see his origin story.

Hellboy II Animated Comic [Apple.com via /Film]

To find out who wins this fight watch the rest of the clip at Latino Review.

[Latino Review and Mania]

Hellboy II is coming in July, and previews make it obvious that the flick will be full of Del Toro's signature dreamy crawlies. It's hard to imagine a third Hellboy without Del Toro at the helm, given that a flair for creative visual design are the bedrock of the first movie and Mike Mignola's freaky-dark comic book. At the same time, I'm glad if that means Del Toro will move onto other projects sooner. He's got some interesting stuff up his sleeve . . . such as a movie version of H.P. Lovecraft's ancient alien war story "At the Mountains of Madness," due out in 2010.

"Mountains" is my favorite Lovecraft story, and contains not just Cthulhu's Spawn but also the winged, tentacled crustacian Mi-Go and the starfish-headed Old Ones. Plus, the gigantic, polymorphous Shuggoths! I know Del Toro will know just what to do with all those crazy monsters.

All I can say is: FANGASM! Srsly, OMG, Guillermo Del Toro reduces me to some kind of LiveJournal-speaking wanker.